MacNaughtan, in his mid-40s, reportedly suffered a heart attack while in California shooting his old friends, Rush.

A member of the band’s local management staff told the Star the office was “heartbroken over here,” while Rush members Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart issued a joint statement in MacNaughtan’s honour via their Facebook page: “We’re deeply shocked and heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of our close friend and longtime photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan. He was a sweet person and a very talented artist. Words cannot describe how much he will be missed.”

MacNaughtan’s sharply designed photographs, familiar to most Canadians from magazines and album covers even if they never knew his name, constitute a veritable Who’s Who of CanCon star power. He shot everyone from Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and the Tragically Hip to Peter Mansbridge, Margaret Atwood and the Trailer Park Boys during his career. A three-time Juno winner for album design, he also directed the occasional music video for such artists as Great Big Sea and Michael Bublé. (He won a fourth Juno for Music DVD of the Year for Rush in Rio.)

MacNaughtan’s most recent work was nevertheless something of a departure. He published a collection of photographs taken during his travels in Kenya and Tanzania last November entitled Grace: Africa in Photographs. Proceeds from the book went to Art Gives Hope, a charity MacNaughtan founded in 2006. He said at the time he hoped the book would result in 500 new sponsors for African children in need through World Vision, a charity to which Art Gives Hope gave generously.